“Oh, sorry,” Uncle John said.
“She’s smoking hot, too,” Phil added.
Uncle John took that in and smiled. Then he turned his attention to my youngest brother.
“Are you looking forward to coming to visit?”
“My mom is,” Phil grumbled.
“And you’re not?” Uncle John asked.
“We’ve been telling him how you treated us when we visited. He’s worried he’ll be a child laborer the whole time,” Greg explained.
“We’ve been talking about collecting all the cow manure and using it as a natural fertilizer for the hay fields,” Uncle John said contemplatively.
In fact, they already did that. Before we partnered with Mr. and Mrs. Hass, who owned the hay farm, Uncle John had dragged the fields to break it up. Now they had a system in place to collect the manure and turn it into fertilizer. They also sold the extra to area farmers as another cash source.
“Cows poop a lot,” Greg said to add to my younger brother’s discomfort.
“You do realize that these two are just giving you a hard time,” Dad said to ruin our fun.
“Like the time they told me we were going to an old folks’ nudist camp?” Phil asked.
“Come on, you got your revenge with mayonnaise-filled doughnuts,” I reminded him.
“That was gross,” Greg admitted, which made Phil smile.
My little brother becoming friends with Yuri and Roc had toughened him up some. He had started to hold his own with Greg and me.
“You’ll have a good time and learn a lot,” I promised Phil.
“Like how to get women?” Phil asked hopefully.
My dad didn’t seem particularly happy about that, but he didn’t say anything.
“We’ll see,” Uncle John said noncommittally, and then he followed up with his standard line.
“How are you handling everyone leaving?”
“I came here to meet David and the rest of you, and I’ve come to love it here. Now I can’t wait for football next year. I hope to get more playing time.”
“You can beat Trent out. You have a better arm and greater field awareness. Coach Hope will figure that out in fall preseason practice,” I predicted. “Just keep working with Roc. He’s going to be a handful for any defense next year.”
“Thanks,” Phil said.
“And you can always call me if you need advice,” I added.
“That goes for all of us,” Greg said. “You can come over anytime you want.”
Phil finally smiled.
“Did you get your STI test results back yet?” I asked.
Phil seemed to want to kill me for some reason.
“I remember the first one I ever had to get,” Greg reminisced. “At least I wasn’t a dumbass, like David, and didn’t take Mom with me to get it.”
“Do you remember when I bought my first condoms, and she tagged along?” I asked. “The salesgirl told me they came in different sizes, and they needed to measure me to get the fit right.”
I told them about my experience to take the focus off my little brother. Dad winked at me to assure me he would follow up and make sure Phil was okay. Phil needed to learn that we didn’t keep secrets in this family. It was okay to talk about stuff like that.
My phone buzzed. It was Manaia, telling me it was time to get moving.
“I’ve gotta go,” I announced.
I gave each of them a hug goodbye, saving Uncle John for last.
“Walk out with me,” I told him.
As we went downstairs, I shared what I needed to.
“What I said at graduation was true. If it hadn’t been for you, none of this would’ve been possible.”
“I appreciate that, but there are a lot of people who’ve contributed. I just got the ball rolling,” Uncle John said to downplay his role in turning David’s life around.
“It’s not the initial kick in the pants, either. You’ve continued to be there and help me understand people and myself better. Your life lessons have been invaluable. I can see that I’m not there yet, and I hope you’ll always be around to help me,” I said.
“I agree, you’re not done yet. You’ve come much further than any of us ever imagined. A lot of that credit goes to you,” Uncle John said.
“What do you see coming next?” I asked.
“Simple: your childhood is over. It’s time for you to become a better man.”
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Next Book in The Series
Stupid Boy Box Sets (All available on kindleunlimited)
This volume includes the four books of the freshman year of the Stupid Boy series.
This volume includes the three books of the junior year of the Stupid Boy series.
This volume includes the four books of the junior year of the Stupid Boy series.
A Better Man (Continuation of Stupid Boy)
David has now entered college, and it hasn’t gone as planned.
It’s summertime and David makes plans for the upcoming season.
(Coming Soon!) Book 3
Are you ready for some football?
The Adventures of Jermey Tucker
Jeremy Tucker thought he lived in the most boring town in the world. This quiet little town was about to change and all because he put an ad on craigslist.
Starbound by Magic
Sexy Warlocks + Paranormal Romance = Happily Ever After … Right?
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Notes from Author
The Stupid Boy and Better Man Series have hit a major milestone. These multi-award-winning series have surpassed 9 million downloads. I want to thank you for being a part of that.
Thank you for reading Junior Year: Box Set. I hope you enjoyed this book. If you have a moment to post a review to let others know about the story, I would greatly appreciate it! I love hearing from fans.
Want to know when I release new books? Here are two ways to stay updated:
Visit my website at www.GYounger.com
Visit my Author Page on Amazon and click on the Follow button.
Thank you again and I hope we meet again between the pages of another book.
– Greg
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